(CHEROKEE LAKE REALTY WRITES A WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE GRAINGER COUNTY JOURNAL NEWSPAPER. THIS WAS A RECENT QUESTION ASKED BY A READER.)
Thank you for your compliment. Yes, I write the column myself. No, the newspaper does not help me or AI (Artificial Intelligence) assist me. I’ve been involved in real estate for a few decades now, so I have a fairly decent background on what real estate questions may pop up. They are unique to each person that writes in, but in some way, shape, or form, I have run across those questions many times. Now, if I need to add some data to my answer, I will research that. For example, the question I answered last week on building a home as opposed to purchasing an existing one? I researched what the average square foot cost on building a home was in 2020 as opposed to 2025.
The second part of your question is whether I sell real estate, the answer is yes. In fact, I happen to own the real estate firm, Cherokee Lake Realty. As mentioned, I have been doing real estate for a long time now, and I am still doing it. I work with both folks that are looking to purchase and folks that are looking to sell. Buyers that are looking for property typically contact me directly. Either through an internet search in trying to find someone in this area, word of mouth, or because of one of our marketing campaigns. Folks that are looking for someone to represent them in selling their property, most of the time, contact me directly. They know that we have a presence in the area and have been successful over the years in selling properties. Word of mouth from previous clients is a great source for future clients. They like the fact I don’t put a lockbox on the door and let strangers, yes other real estate agents and their clients are strangers, go through their home where they may have valuables kept. Opening cabinets, peeking in closets, and so forth. I would not want “strangers” going through my home, and I treat every client’s home as if it was mine. I am present at every single showing. I am also present at all inspections, appraisals, and closings. Obviously, this is time consuming, and this is why I limit how many clients I represent at one time, so I can give each one my undivided attention and time. Some agencies teach their agents to just put a for sale sign outside the home, do the lockbox thing, and move on to find another listing. Their philosophy is that regardless of whether they sell the home themselves or another agency sells it, as the listing agent, they will still get a commission check. As I said, I don’t believe in that philosophy. Most agents that represent sellers prefer they be out of the house when their home is shown. I don’t. I have made sales, whereby the seller being present, the sale was consummated. I learn as much about a client’s home as possible, but I will never know as much as the owner. By them being present, a question about the home that I was not familiar with could be answered on the spot by the owner. I tell my clients we are a team. And I do mean that. Together we will do everything possible to sell their home. I know that cell phones have great cameras nowadays, but unlike some agents, I don’t take photos with my cell phone. I bring in a professional team of photographers to take inside, outside, and aerial drone photos. I can do my own taxes, but I prefer using a professional to do this. I feel the same way about real estate photos. And I do quite a bit of advertising. I don’t do those three sentence ads you see in the real estate magazines. I only do full page ads. You can share so much more about a property when you have more space to describe it. Is all this expensive, sure, but it sells homes. I pay for all this out of my commission.
So, again, thank you for being a reader of my column. Hopefully it helps someone that has a real estate question, and sure, if you know someone that wants to buy or sell real estate, send them my way.
